1. Field
This invention relates generally to data communications, and more specifically, to a virtual service network.
2. Background
Service load balancers such as server load balancers or application delivery controllers typically balance load among a plurality of servers providing network services such as Web documents, voice calls, advertisements, enterprise applications, video services, gaming, or consuming broadband services. A service is used by many client computers. Some services are offered for few clients and some services are offered to many clients. Typically a service is handled by a service load balancer. When there are many clients utilizing the service at the same time, the service load balancer will handle the distribution of client service accesses among the servers. However, as the capacity of the service load balancer is reached, a network administrator cannot easily add a second service load balancer, since a service is typically assigned to an IP address of the service load balancer. Adding another service load balancer having the same IP address for the service is not possible in a data network. Network nodes in the data network would not be able to determine which service load balancer to send a client service access to.
The scaling of service demand has not been a problem in the past as computing capacity of service load balancer was able to keep up with client service demand. However, as mobile computing becomes pervasive and as more traditional non networking services such as television, gaming, and advertisement are migrating to data networks, the demand for client services has surpassed the pace of processing improvement. The need to scale to a plurality of service load balancers to support a network service is imminent.
The present invention describes a virtual service network wherein network nodes in the virtual service network are capable of processing client service sessions of a network service and forwarding the sessions to a plurality of service load balancers.